This invention relates generally to crop harvesting machines commonly known as combines, and specifically to an improved connection between a pivotal feeder housing and the inlet opening of a combine which seals the junction to reduce crop losses.
A combine typically includes a mobile frame containing a threshing and separating mechanism for reducing the crop picked up from the field to a useful and marketable condition. The forward portion of the frame is formed with an inlet opening containing guide means for directing crop material toward the threshing and separating mechanism. A forwardly disposed transverse harvesting header removes the crop from the field, delivers it rearwardly to a feeder housing, or elevator, which in turn delivers the crop material into the inlet opening. The feeder housing is pivotably mounted to the frame to permit vertical movement of the header and fine adjustment for the accommodation of different headers.
Much of the innovative effort in this general technology is directed toward improving the efficiency of the harvesting operation. More specifically, the technically most efficient machines are those which are designed, and improved, to maximize the crop harvest while minimizing the required input in labor and energy. The invention described herein is directed primarily to the maximization of the volume of crop harvested by the reduction of losses in the particularly vulnerable junction area between the pivotable feeder housing and the inlet opening in the frame.
It has been found extremely difficult to construct a pivotable feeder housing extending partly into the inlet opening of a combine which does not permit undesirable grain loss through the vertical interfaces. The solution heretofore used was to attach the feeder housing to the combine frame and then manually select and affix shims to the feeder housing adjacent the inlet opening. While this latter procedure does block a substantial portion of the affected area, it is, nonetheless, not entirely satisfactory. The shimming approach cannot entirely fill the gaps, because to do so would restrict the important pivoting function of the feeder housing.